The Problem of Suffering IV

Today we will finish up chapter 4 of 1 Peter by looking at verses 12-19.  Peter will finish up the topic of the suffering of Christians before concluding his letter in chapter 5.

In This World Suffering Is Normal

In verse 12 Peter reminds them that their suffering is not a strange thing.  As the Creator, God himself is the definition of what is normal.  It is He who made the earth and the universe.  Thus we could say that it is not normal.  However, since the rebellion of mankind and many of the angelic order, it has become normal for those who do righteousness to suffer for it.  Satan has strong control over the minds and powers of this world.  So we should not be surprised at opposition.  In America we have had it so good for so long that we have forgotten that all institutions and nations eventually fall to the infiltration of this spiritual enemy.  It is only by God’s Spirit that we can win.

Peter refers to suffering as a fiery trial.  This is reminiscent of the 3 Hebrew boys who were protected from the fire of Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel.  Even though we are not all physically protected, the fiery trials of this world cannot destroy our faith in God.  In fact if our faith is mere wood, hay, or stubble it will not survive.  But if our faith is true metal, the fire will only serve to purify us.  Thus what the enemy intends for evil, God works for our good.  Notice that God doesn’t often overturn the event itself.  Rather, He overturns the end to which it was sent.  Thus God uses fiery trials to prove that our faith is genuine and also to purify it and make it stronger.

In the next verse, Peter points out that they have a unique point of fellowship with Christ, namely in his sufferings.  Not many would volunteer to share in someone’s sufferings.  But much like fellow combatants who have a connection with each other because they went through the same “fire,” so too, we can come to understand the sufferings of our Lord Jesus.  His strength of faith and purity of heart cause us to go deeper in our love for who He is.  His endurance under intense suffering is a foreign thing to us when we have never suffered.  But when we suffer we understand and love Jesus on a far deeper level.  This is a cause for rejoicing.  We have joy now, but when Jesus is revealed from heaven in great glory we will do more than rejoice.  The word translated exceeding could also be translated as “causing to spring up.”  Today we can rejoice, but then we will be filled with “Leaping joy.”  The joy of Christ’s coming will be a far sweeter event when we have endured sufferings on behalf of our Lord.

Make Sure You Suffer For The Right Reasons

Let’s look at the next three verses (14-16).  Earlier Peter had warned slaves not to be punished for evil.  But if they are punished for doing good to bear it as unto the Lord.  Similarly, here he calls all believers to make sure that if they are suffering it is for the right reason.  If we suffer because of our trust in Jesus Christ we bring glory to God and ourselves.  First we bring glory to Christ because we honor him as worthy of our suffering.  In a world that rejects and dishonors Christ, we stand up and honor him.  We declare that we will go through anything in order to be with Jesus.  Peter reminds them that those who make such statements and live in that way will find the Glory of God’s Spirit resting on them.  This is a clear reference back to the temple.  When the Spirit of God came upon the tabernacle and the temple, it came like a cloud that rested upon the place.  That which was reserved for the most holy place now resides upon all believers who put their faith in Jesus.  The cloud may not be visible.  But we have a Spirit of Glory and also a destiny of Glory.

There is no shame in suffering because of Christ.  It is shameful to suffer because you are a murderer, a thief, an evil-doer, or a gossip.  But to suffer because of Christ is to put our hopes in a glory that is future.  When Jesus returns in great glory to judge the world, those who have put their trust in him will be raised to a glorious place with him.  Thus we ought to do all we can to glorify God in the way that we suffer, in speech, deed, and attitude.

Prepare For God’s Judgment

Peter reminds them that it is time for God’s judgment to come down.  But that judgment must first start with His people.  It would be easy to jump on Israel, but the first one judgment came upon was Jesus himself.  On the cross, the sins of the world were placed upon Jesus and the Father poured out his wrath upon Christ.  However, we can also recognize that God did not go on to judge Rome, but rather his judgments came upon Israel, its leaders, and its priesthood.  However, this judgment continues.  The church spiritually is free from judgment.  But in the flesh the believers looked like a people under the judgment of God.  In fact we are counseled to judge ourselves and turn to God in repentance.  We are a judged people.  God always judges His people first. But don’t fool yourself for one second.  His judgment will move to the world and those who are lost.  This world flatters itself as it pompously watches this judgment.  But their time is coming.  In fact the Roman kingdom eventually was judged, split asunder and then ruined.  The nations of this world may think that the Church’s days are numbered and that they will progress beyond religion, but a day of judgment is coming in which they will see the folly of their thoughts.  If the righteous one is barely saved what will become of the sinner?  He will have no hope.  What is meant by barely saved?  It means that our salvations hinges on a single moment in which we wavered on the edge of belief, precariously perched.  Few boldly march into heaven and lay down their crowns.  Most fearfully fret over the moment of faith and yet once they believe they find that the Lord’s hand is there.  This is not meant to minimize the work of God and maximize the works of man, but rather to point out the frailty of man.  If it were not for God none could be saved.

Thus we ought to entrust our souls unto God.  In verse 19 Peter challenges us to put our faith in God by doing what is good, or right.  That is the challenge.  We might shrink back from the right thing because it will bring us suffering.  But Peter says to do what is right and put your soul in God’s hands.  What a safe place.

Notice he refers to God as a faithful Creator.  I believe he does this to remind us of all the things God did at creation.  We are entrusting ourselves into the hands of the One who is powerful enough to create all things.  We are entrusting ourselves into the hands of the One who was wise enough to create all things. We are entrusting ourselves into the hands of the One who has a purpose in Creation,  just as he has a purpose in allowing this momentary suffering into our life.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me praise His holy name!

Problem of suffering IV audio

Serving For God’s Glory

Today we continue in 1 Peter chapter 4 and deal with verses 7-11.  This section does not speak about suffering per se.  However, it does answer the question.  What should we be doing?  Peter does so by first reminding them of where they are in relation to God’s plan and gives them some practical things upon which to focus.

The End Of All Things Is At Hand

Verse 7 begins with an ominous statement that the end of all things is at hand.  Thus we need to deal with what Peter meant by “The End.”  There are some that believe the apostles taught that Jesus was returning within a matter of months maybe years and thus Peter’s statement reflects his mistaken belief that the coming of Jesus was going to happen shortly.  However this flies in the face of what the Bible says.  Jesus himself had told the apostles in Acts 1:7 that it was not for them to know the times or the seasons which the Father had kept to himself.  Also, many of the parables of Jesus emphasized a long departure of the King which would lead to many of his “managers” abusing their positions.  It is inconsistent to read into this statement that Peter means the Judgment of the nations was going to happen within years.

Others believe that “the end” refers to Israel under the Law of Moses.  In fact they take most if not all of the end times language of the New Testament to refer to the Judgment of Israel.  It is true that the judgment of Israel, which had already begun, would soon receive a “nail in the coffin,” as the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD.  The problem is that this doesn’t fit the context.  Peter is writing to Christians who have already left Israel behind. They were a remnant sent out into the world as a judgment to Israel.  They were scattered throughout the area of modern Turkey.  The final point would be the use of the phrase “all things.”  It would really be stretching the context to make “all things” only mean all things pertaining to Israel.  They live in Gentile lands and their need to be sober and watchful in prayer is because of the coming judgment upon the nations.

The apostles taught that Jesus could come at any time and was ready to bring judgment, but that they did not know the time.  Believers were to simply live a life of readiness for the Lord’s coming.  Thus the Church age or the time of Grace to the Gentiles is characterized by a people who are warning of looming judgment and are ready at all times for it to come.  Israel’s judgment is a warning that emphasizes the message of the Church. 

When we look at history from God’s perspective we will recognize that it has a clear purpose and a distinct destiny.  A football field does not go on forever.  It has a goal or end point that enables a team to place.  God has not put mankind on an infinite field.  The history of mankind is headed somewhere and is revealed in God’s Word.  God is reasoning with man and the angels regarding his nature and the nature of good and evil.  We went from Innocence in the Garden to Rebellion and then Judgment at the Flood.  However, in Noah we see the Grace of God who then furthers that grace by creating a nation Israel who would teach mankind regarding Legalism.  At the cross all mankind, whether rebellious heathens or sanctimonious “followers of God,” are judged as wicked and in need of God’s grace.  We now live in a period of Grace in which God allows that reasoning or message to go out to the world and save whosoever will receive it.  Thus mankind has a purpose that gives it a specific limit or end.

Lastly, regarding the end we need to deal with the phrase “at hand.”  This phrase is more a phrase of process than it is of chronology.  In other words it does not necessarily mean it is about to happen in a matter of months or years.  It means that the plan of God that has reasoned with mankind throughout history had reached its final point.  Now Judgment was looming and a time of grace was given for men to make up their mind.  Jesus is ready to judge, but God refrains from sending him because he is making room for more to be saved.  From a standpoint of the plan of God nothing new needs to happen.  God’s witness of himself is completed and the Church gives it to all those who it can.  Judgment of this world system is the next thing on the agenda.  In that sense it is at hand and ready for the Father’s directive.

How Then Should Believers Live?

This important point of where we are in God’s economy is to let those who are suffering know that not only does their suffering have purpose, but it also has an end.  So what do we do in the mean time?  Simply they need to do what Jesus told them to do. 

First they need to be sober-minded and self controlled.  The two words used here speak to the same idea, but one focuses on the mind whereas the other includes actions.  The world is pursuing the desires of the flesh in an ever maddening rush.  Like a drunken person who has lost all inhibitions and awareness, the world plunges forward into its judgment.  Believers are not to be a part of this.  We are to have “right thinking” and calm purposeful actions that are informed by God himself and thus, reality.  This world threatens to spiritually inebriate Christians, but we must refuse its intoxication.  Temptations can cause us to throw off inhibitions and make dangerous choices, which lead to dangerous actions.  Jesus is coming to judge the world.  Will he find you being faithful when he comes?

We should also be people of prayer.  We don’t just pray soberly.  Rather it is our sobriety that leads us into prayer.  The more we live for the flesh the less we will pray for the right things and eventually the less we will pray at all.  Whether worship and praise, or intercession and petition, the believer who lives in a world that rejects God will find themselves turning to God more and more often.  Between the goodness of God and the heaviness of the world we should not lack motivation to come to God in prayer.

In verse 8 he calls us to be people who love each other.  This is to be above all things.  That does not necessarily mean more important.  But rather our love for one another is the overall atmosphere in which we do all that we do.  We are to love fervently.  The word translated fervently literally means to stretch out.  Much like a football player who wants to make a touchdown stretches out and leaps for the catch, so too must believers stretch themselves out in love.  You may think to yourself, “But I don’t want to get hurt.”  The real question is this: How badly do you want to catch the ball?  Jesus calls us to want to love each other so strongly that we are willing to stretch ourselves out and risk a broken rib here and there.  In fact because each of us are sinners saved by grace, we need love to cover our own sins.  Cover here does not mean to cover up by pretending it doesn’t exist.  Rather, love overlooks those minor faults that we all have and yet confronts those major faults that we all need to change.  Love enables us to remain in community even though our sins would tear us all apart. 

In verse 9 he brings up the issue of hospitality.  This word means to be a friend to strangers.  Though it is hospitable to have your friends over for dinner, true hospitality is when you invite someone you don’t know over for dinner.  Not only that, but we need to do so without that inner complaining that can ruin our spirit.

Lastly, Peter tells us to minister God’s gifts to each other.  Though this can be seen as still a part of love, Peter spends 2 verses fleshing this out in particular.  God has blessed you with certain gifts and abilities.  But they are not for you to spend on yourself.  Rather we are to manage them and administer them to one another.  You are a manager of God’s stuff in your life.  Are you a stingy manager?  Lazy? Lavish? Diligent?  What kind of manager am I of God’s things?  Just as the prophets of old had a serious calling, so we must see ourselves called to bless others through the gifts and abilities that he has and is supplying.  Do not merely trust in yourself, but lean upon God’s supply.  Yes, you may not be able to do it.  But God can through you if you will trust him.

When we minister his gifts to each other we will bring glory to God because we have properly reflected the heart of Jesus.  This really is our ultimate purpose.  So do we really need to do something different as we see the end times come closer and closer?  Not really. The instructions remain the same, because they have always been the instructions of what to do under the looming threat of the end.

Final Thoughts

In these last days we see, on the one hand, how God has lengthened the day of grace in order to save more people.  Peter speaks to this in 2 Peter 3:9 when he says, “The Lord is not slow concerning his promise.”  On the other hand, as we approach the end God will need to shorten it.  Due to the wickedness of mankind and the wrath of God being poured out, no flesh would survive.  This is seen in Matthew 24:22.  We can trust God’s perfect supervision of these end times.  Whether we are suffering or persecuted, God is in control.  He is bringing us to something good.  Instead of fear let us pray for boldness to be sober-minded and self controlled as we love one another.  Maranatha!

Serving God's Glory Audio

The Problem of Suffering III

Having reminded us of the sufferings of Jesus, in 1 Peter 4:1-6 he encourages believers to follow Christ’s example.  We should recognize that Christ suffered for us while he was in the flesh and so we ought to prepare ourselves for the same.  This disciple-master relationship is not directly referred to but it is implicit in the background.  If the master suffered how can his disciples not?  Are we greater than he?

Prepare For Possible Suffering

Peter tells us to “arm” ourselves with the same mentality that Jesus had when he suffered.  Our mental outlook and rationale regarding suffering can prepare us like a weapon prepares a soldier for battle.  Can you imagine going into war without preparing the gear and weapons you will need to survive and win?  It would be suicide.  Thus Peter reminds us of the battle that is going on to rob us of our faith and keep countless billions in darkness.  Before suffering comes we should mentally prepare ourselves to look at it like Jesus did.  So how did Jesus approach suffering?

Jesus was not a masochist who sought out suffering for suffering’s sake.  Nor did he annoy people on purpose in order to make them persecute him.  For Jesus suffering was something that our flesh does not want, but is sometimes necessary for the sake of others.  You see Jesus did not suffer on his own behalf.  He was suffering for us.  To him suffering had a purpose.  Anyone who runs into war, just for the “fun” of war, is not like Jesus.  But for those who endure the suffering and horrendous nature of war for the prize on the other side, they are willing to lay down their weapons when the battle is over.  Their purpose was peace on the other side. 

We need to have the same mind towards suffering.  It is not something we seek out.  But the choices of others may bring it to us from time to time.  Now none of us suffer for the sins of others like Jesus did.  But our enduring of suffering is a witness to the lost.  Our God is worthy of laying down the “good things” of life.  It is also an encouragement to believers in their faith.  So in that sense our suffering can help others to continue in faithfulness to God and it can turn sinners out of the path of judgment.  We may not know how God is going to do it and who is going to be helped, but we trust that anything the Father allows is for the good in the end.

We should also have the same mind of Christ towards life.  He did not make his choices according to what was pleasing to his flesh.  He lived to do the will of God.  Do you see your life as an opportunity to do God’s will?  Or, do you see it as an opportunity to get the maximum of pleasure possible?  Jesus did all that he did for the will of God.  How much of my life have I given to accomplishing God’s will?  Do I approach my marriage, family, kids, and job as a calling from God?  Or, have I approached them as a means to make me happy?  Don’t get me wrong.  God desires us to have joy and pleasures in this life.  But he does not want us to prostitute our life for the sake of them.  The pleasures of life are to help us along the way, not “be” our way.  Peter lists in verse 3 the things that the people of the world chase after.  Immorality, the strong desires of the flesh, drunkenness, drinking parties, idolatries are all like a person pouring out all the potential of their life onto the ground.  We waste our life and bring ourselves under judgment when we live for these things.  Peter tells them that they had spent enough time living that way.  Now change your mind and prepare for what may come for the right reasons, the glory of God, even when the world thinks you are strange for doing so.

The Day of Judgment

Those who “judge” you worthy of suffering are themselves going to be judged by Christ, Vs. 5.  Though we may doubt it when we are suffering, there is a day of judgment.  Paul speaks of it in 1 Timothy 4:1 and 2a, “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom.  Preach the Word.”  Peter points out that Christ is ready to judge, but Paul says this judgment will begin when he appears at the 2^nd Coming.  Thus there is a specific time for this judgment and the Lord is “ready” to carry it out.  “Ready” implies both his desires and his preparations.  His heart is inclined to bring this judgment.  Yet he has also done all that is needed to do it.  He has taken on the additional nature of a man and experienced the same temptations that we do.  He has laid his life down and done for us what we could not do for ourselves. 

We have to continually remind ourselves that the judgments of people have nothing to do with God’s judgment of us through Christ.  Jesus will judge us based upon Truth.  In fact in verse 6 Peter goes on to mention that the gospel was preached to those who are dead.  What is this all about?  First of all, the main point is this.  Though people have died in the flesh, they can live by the spirit due to the gospel having been preached to them.  He wants us to see that the flesh that we can see is not the ultimate reality. 

The difficulty in knowing what Peter is saying in verse 6 focuses more on the specific details rather than the overall message.  Some say that Peter doesn’t mean the gospel was preached to dead people.  He is actually saying that the gospel was preached to people in the past who are now dead.  The implication is this question.  Did the gospel fail?  The answer is an emphatic, NO!  They are alive by the Spirit of God and, in fact, await the resurrection which will make that life evident to all.

Others tie this passage in to the previous chapter.  Just as Jesus proclaimed his victory to the fallen angels who rebelled before the flood, he has also shared the gospel with those who were being held in Paradise.  Before he leads them in triumph back up to the Father, he explains the details of their salvation for which they had always hoped, trusted, and believed God.

Regardless of which way you interpret the first part of this verse, Peter’s main point stands the same.  Though believers die in the flesh, they continue to live by the Spirit of God.  Thus even suffering to death is not a failure.  It is ultimately victory.  Don’t look at what you see in the flesh or in the natural and let that diminish your faith in what God has promised you through His Spirit.  Be faithful to the end and persevere.

Final Thoughts

What I go through in the flesh is not as important as where I am headed by the Spirit of God.  In the end God will always prove Himself faithful to those who put their trust in Him.  God has not turned his back on you.  Wait upon Him and you will see the promise fulfilled!

Problem of suffering III audio

USMC Lt. Colonel (ret.) Dave Winecoff

This last Sunday we were blessed with the visiting ministry of Dave Winecoff.  Dave comes from a military family and went on to join the United States Marine Corps.  After his three tours in Vietnam he was decorated with the Silver Star for his conspicuous gallantry in Operation Dewey Canyon.

Dave has spoken at Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International and is currently serving as a chaplain for a local Veterans of Foreign War post.

We are grateful that he accepted our invitation and have posted the audio for those who couldn’t be in Sunday’s morning service.

Dave Winecoff Audio